


Straining Echo

by Puck_Monger_99



Category: Magician RPF
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Historically Accurate, Magic, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 21:33:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3952543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puck_Monger_99/pseuds/Puck_Monger_99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first meeting of an aspiring illusionist and an animal empath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Straining Echo

Nights aboard the Bremen could be lonely. With company they could still be achingly dull, but not the night when a young man started to perform sleight of hand towards bored, drunk passengers. No, that wasn’t boring. How could magic be boring? 

Ah, but the darkness and isolation of the vast ocean surrounding them could easily swallow one up. Despite Siegfried’s initial excitement at the improvised performance, he became bored. Not very, but enough that he itched to quell it. The captain (Such an accommodating man, Siegfried thought once) took notice of his employee’s growing fame, and gave him the slot of time he deserved. 

Siegfried tugged on his tight, black trousers hurriedly. The clock read thirty minutes till showtime, and he hardly had any time to prepare! He threw on the rest of his costume, noticing the fraying ends to the joints of his tuxedo jacket. 

“Damn!” He mumbled. “I’ll have to ask Mother to fix that.” 

Now, the events of his home life were nothing but irrelevant at this point. His father was outright ignorant of his son’s life, only giving a raised eyebrow when his children returned home. His mother, however, was different. Maria Fischbacher, a stern woman in every way, cared much for her sons and daughter, no matter how much she refused to vocalize it. Seeing her children off into the world was hard, because she wanted to hold onto them tightly. In her desperation to keep Siegfried in Germany, clasped suffocatingly in her arms, she took actions that hurt her son, and herself, deeply. They were docking back in Germany in a few days, and, being truly a starving artist, Siegfried could only beg for shelter from his parents. It was a rather dreadful situation.

Siegfried wiped his brow, hoping the angry clench in his gut would disperse quickly. He’d thought his sea-sickness had disappeared already, but it didn’t matter how many weeks he stayed aboard this wretched vessel, he was doomed to the same fate every voyage. Perhaps it was the anxiety of running late for his act that brought it on (or, more than likely, the sudden memory of his strained relationship with his mother). He sighed in frustration, tearing down the hallway like a bat out of hell, spinning on his heels when he realized there were no stewards he recognized to help assist with the show.

He was about to scream when a young bellboy, merely a slight, cheerful teenager, brushed by. Siegfried grabbed his arm quickly. He took off once more, dragging the boy bodily with him. 

“Um, sir-!” 

“You will help me with my show tonight!”

“But-!”

“I am Siegfried. However! You will address me as Delmare during the performance.”

“W-well I’m Uwe.”

“Right, right. Pick up your feet, then!”

Siegfried and the boy made it to the performance deck on time, more or less, and his assistant knew what he needed to do. More or less. Regardless, the show went off without a hitch, and Siegfried had calmed himself enough to perform his razorblade trick safely. The dancing canes and appearing doves drew pleased coos from the audience, and by the time he’d bowed during applause, he looked back at –Uwe was it?- and the boy was every bit of awkward giddiness you’d expect from an adolescent. Siegfried smirked to himself.

“Come,” He motioned as the set was cleared away to his room. “I will buy you a drink.” The boy seemed hesitant, and Siegfried knew better than to get some kid drunk, but he had done a fine enough job on the spot. His usual tradition demanded it, and one drink wouldn’t really kill him. 

They sat in a private corner by the bar in the dining hall. Silently, a tad uncomfortably, they sipped their drinks. 

“Well,” Siegfried hummed with a certain arrogance coating his voice. “What did you think of the show?”

The boy didn’t answer, instead tilting his glass to his lips and taking a swig of beer. Siegfried looked at him, off-put by the reaction. He asked again. Uwe refused to meet his eyes, carding a hand through his hair and nearly just turning away so he wouldn’t have to speak. Siegfried looked around, as if this could be an unreal moment. 

“Come on, boy. What did you think?”

“Well, the audience really liked you.” His tenor cadence was soft, shy. “And it’s great that you can do all those tricks. But,” He suddenly looked up. “Quite honestly, I didn’t like the show all that much.” Siegfried opened his mouth to rebut, but instead was cut off. “The magic seems so predictable.”

The atmosphere was suddenly dank and tense between them. Siegfried felt too hot beneath the collar, fury bubbling up his throat, although it had nowhere to go. What was he supposed to say to that? He didn’t usually get criticism. Ever. Uwe looked at him fearfully, expectantly, and the anger that simmered inside him became magma. He wanted to leave. He wanted to throw a tantrum like a child. Here this boy sat, a mere infant compared to Siegfried, blinked up at him with doe eyes! What did he know? Siegfried worried his lip.

“Alright,” He bit the end consonant off harder than necessary, giving Uwe a glance that had to convey the sheer amount of irritation and anger in his entire being. “Alright, fine. Tell me, what is it that I can do to make my act—better?”

Uwe chewed on the thought a moment. On the one hand, Siegfried wanted to humor the boy, but on the other hand, he wanted to tell him off. He really liked the latter idea.

"If you can make a rabbit and a dove disappear," He cautioned gently, as if coaxing a frightened animal. "Could you do the same with a cheetah?"

Siegfried stared at him. 

Uwe stared back. 

Siegfried scoffed, leaning back in his chair. The fire in his belly was suddenly gone. "In magic, anything is possible."

The two parted ways quickly, ending their time together on a forced, cheerful note. The boat docked in Bremerhaven a handful of days later, and Siegfried forgot about his little encounter with the young steward.

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of surprised at the lack of S&R fanfiction, but, you know. 
> 
> Roy was referred to as Uwe since his childhood, and that only changed after a certain magic event he and Siegfried performed at.


End file.
